Inuyasha Manga: 111 Purification

Anyone else find this concept a bit odd in Inuyasha? Usually, purity is such a passive quality, and the act of purifying oneself is generally nonviolent and passive in itself. Sure, some of the language around purity and purification can be really warlike in tone, presented metaphorically as battling evil forces and all that jazz, but in practice it's the goodness and light coming from leading a virtuous existence. In the context of this story, though, all the metaphor is removed, leaving only ACTUAL war. Kagome's powers can be used in an outright aggressive manner, and Kikyou's also had a warrior tint to them. Before she became an actual demoness, I mean.

It's an interesting subversion of both the role of passive female characters in these sorts of stories and the peoples' expectations around the "purity" trope. I wonder if it fits into a larger subversion of the "good and evil" trope as well. Or at least I hope.

But enough philosophizing about story elements that may not be as important as I'm making them - there is a pissed-off fifteen-year-old with a bow and arrow and she will fuck your shit UP.

Naraku is halting in asking who Kagome is, in disbelief that anyone would be able to pierce his body. I would like to point out again that Naraku claimed to be a congealed cloud of noxious gas a couple of chapters ago, a description that does not lend well to concepts of impenetrability, but I digress. Naraku mumbles that long ago, there was a girl with Kagome's sort of power, and a still stunned Inuyasha looks over at Kagome, wondering if Naraku is talking about Kikyou. I don't know why you would ever DOUBT that interpretation, but maybe he just doesn't want to jump to conclusions.

Kagome, on the other hand, has no qualms about assuming Naraku is talking about Kikyou, snapping that he lured Kikyou into a trap and killed her. Apparently this only NOW tips an amazed Naraku off to the possibility that Kagome is Kikyou's reincarnation. How it took him this long when everyone else had already gotten to the finish line on that idea just by looking at her, I'll never know. Congratulations on getting with the program, Naraku! Here's your honorary certificate:

Print that out. Hang it on your wall. If, of course, Kagome hasn't fucking WRECKED all of them by the time you're done here.

She's not getting any calmer, either. She tells Naraku to just shut his trap already, because she's "getting" angry. Oh sweetie, that bridge has already been crossed a mile back. The one you're stepping onto now is called "utterly enraged", and... oh, no, never mind, because you've got the record time over that one too once you've fired another arrow at Naraku in the very next panel.

This girl doesn't fuck around.

Naraku's head and shoulders arc toward the rubble beneath, no longer supported by any more solidified miasma. Because Naraku isn't done fucking with everyone's heads yet, though, he pulls something unexpected; he GRINS. Kagome recoils out of her rage-gasm, completely taken-aback. Inuyasha yells at her to watch out, and leaps to carry her away from one last burst of miasma Naraku released at her. It's a powerful one too, gushing forth past Miroku leaning over Shippou and Sango with Inuyasha's robe shielding his back. Inuyasha is hit with the full blast of the stuff while he hunches over Kagome to protect her from it. All the while, what's left of the castle crumbles to dust and is carried off by the wind.

Miroku stands to survey the situation with Shippou on his shoulder, whose masterful observation is that the castle's gone. Miroku says it was a fake castle, while Inuyasha wonders if Naraku is dead. You should only be so lucky, my boy. Kagome draws his attention to the Tessaiga sticking out of the ground nearby, abandoned by Naraku in his exit.

And it is an exit, by the way, as we see in the next couple of panels where Kohaku speeds across the ground carrying something sporting a weave of long wavy black hair. It is of course Naraku's head, which urges Kohaku to hurry and run to the castle. Kohaku gives these orders prompt recognition, allowing Naraku to lapse into consideration of what just happened as he's being carried. He considers Kagome "dreadful" for being able to cut straight through and purify the constructions of evil he had built with her arrow. Naraku is convinced that if Kagome had been as close as Inuyasha was to him when she fired, his life would have been in SERIOUS danger.

As opposed to, you know, the unserious nature of having the whole of one's body blown away with only a head remaining.

Back at the ruins of the fake castle, someone asks if Naraku got away. As she kneels on the ground and feels the overturned earth, Kagome says this must be the case, since the Shikon fragments have disappeared. She apologizes for being unable to get rid of Naraku, and for once, Inuyasha is speechless in wide-eyed surprise. Miroku reminds her that if she hadn't done as much as she did, they would all be dead right now, and Inuyasha recovers to suggest that she's the most amazing of all of them. Woah. When INUYASHA is calling you amazing, you KNOW you did something incredible.

But Kagome starts to rationalize away her sudden burst of angry action in a, shall we say, humiliating way.

Inuyasha flushes, speechless once more, then sits down next to Kagome with a half-hearted tease about how silly her reasons for losing it were, blushing the whole time. She asks him indignantly what he means by silly, and Miroku takes this as his cue to slouch off, tired and not really giving two shits about their cutesy behavior. He straightens again when he hears Shippou urging Sango not to move around a lot.

She's using her Hiraikostu as a crutch to pull herself to her feet, despite her lack of strength and Shippou's discouraging shouts. Kagome calls out to her as well, but Miroku is already close enough to ask her where she's going. She pauses in her struggle to drag herself up and apologizes, saying she can't hang out in their group anymore. Miroku assures her that they all understand the situation she was in, Naraku holding her brother's life hostage and all, and she shouts at him that that's exactly the reason.

Inuyasha has strangely little to say all of a sudden. It's weird, guys.

So, Miroku keeps up his Socratic line of questioning, asking Sango if she intends to kill Naraku all by herself. She insists that it's the only way, but Kagome suggests that they all look for Kohaku together instead. Miroku agrees, saying that she can't face Naraku alone, as Kagome approaches Sango to ease her back onto the ground and deign to look at her wounds. Sango is perplexed by how forgiving they're being, and Inuyasha's glare returns.

You see, that's more like it. I'm not comfortable when Inuyasha isn't screaming some strangely sensitive and yet dickish thing at someone.

And now I feel weird for articulating just how normal that has become for me. Go figure.

Since Inuyasha says he still wants Sango around even though his sword was the one she stole, Miroku reasons that this means there isn't a problem with her sticking with them. Inuyasha glares at Miroku, asking if that's supposed to mean he's stupid or something, but Miroku says it's only supposed to mean he's got a big heart. Meanwhile, Shippou asks a hunched and quiet Sango if she hates them.

She remains quiet, internally reminding herself that it's her fault this whole fiasco took place. Still its a hopeful thought that no one seems to care that the same thing might happen again. Sango asks haltingly if it's really okay for her to come with them, and Inuyasha barks that they already said that it was.

Awwwww! Now you're stuck with these lunatics forever!

Yup, and there's no weaseling your way out of it with this whole betrayal business, so you may as well not even try anymore!

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? In some ways, it hits very close to home. Sango's behavior here is similar to my own when I end up making a mistake that hurts someone else, and fear I'll do it again. It's that kneejerk reaction of being a self-flagellating fool in anticipation of everyone ELSE piling on their condemnations as well. Sango expects to be ousted from the group due to her betrayal, so she takes the initiative to walk away, convinced that she deserves nothing better than the horrible berating she's already giving herself in her own head. It's a habit I'm all too familiar with.

Thankfully, I'm also familiar with the kindness and understanding that Sango's friends show here. Though I don't doubt Inuyasha was miffed, he was also loathe to see Sango walk away from their alliance because he's come to recognize that they're all better off, and stronger, together. It's quite amazing how quickly he went from being alone out of necessity and distrust for others, to insisting on an ever-growing group centered around eliminating a common threat stay together. His distrust has so thoroughly dissolved that he could be the direct victim of a theft from someone else, and STILL tell her he wants her to stay in his group. As Miroku said, he has a big heart.

He and the rest of them, of course. One of the hallmarks of true friendship is forgiveness when one of these kinds of transgressions occurs. I say "when" because it's inevitable; we all do things that can hurt and betray the ones we love. The best of friends knows when the betrayal is malicious and when it's a complicated situation, though, and will be able to understand the context in which it was played out. Forgiveness comes easy for a friend who knows their buddy is more valuable than the hurt they caused.

The real challenge is getting forgiveness from oneself when you're the one who fucked up. I know, I STILL haven't figured that one out yet.